DNV GL to Operate German FINO2 Offshore Wind Research Platform

DNV GL has won a contract for the operation of the FINO2 research platform in the German sector of the Baltic Sea, which will acquire data for the development of offshore wind energy projects.

The contract award comes after Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) re-issued the call for tenders in July 2020 since none of the offers received at the first tender call met the required conditions.

Prior to this tender, DNV GL had been responsible for the operation of FINO 2 since January 2010. The company has also been operating the research platform FINO 1 and executing meteorological measurements on FINO 3.

The BMWi plans to commission the research platform on 1 March and have it running until 28 February 2025, with the option of extending the operation by one year. During this time, DNV GL must ensure continuous and, if possible, trouble-free operation as well as the implementation of high quality offshore research.

The operator’s core tasks include scheduled maintenance and repair, organisation of research operations in coordination with relevant institutes, as well as the organisation, management and controlling of all repair work. The operator will also guarantee for the technical safety of the platform and the safety of people and the environment, and manage public relations, coordination and cooperation with all relevant authorities.

FINO2 is located in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Baltic Sea, some 33 kilometres north of the island of Rügen. The platform consists of a monopile foundation, a transition piece, a platform deck, and a 90-metre tall wind measurement mast. It is equipped with numerous measuring devices for recording meteorological, hydrological, biological and other data of interest to science and research.

The FINO2 research platform, built in 2007, is the second of a total of three research platforms of the BMWi. The aims of these research platforms in the German North Sea and the Baltic Sea (FINO = Forschungsplattformen in Nord- und Ostsee) is to explore the environmental conditions at the site and to identify possible effects of offshore wind farms on the marine environment.